As the region's domestic markets become critical drivers of economic growth in Asia-Pacific, it was only a matter of time when more efficient approaches to managing a company's finances operating locally gain credence.

This is especially true in the past two years when so-called virtual accounts have flourished as these companies, working with service providers, discover the value of automation in the receivables function. The use of these accounts is a godsend -- reducing the pain of companies in the B2C space in identifying payments received and then reconciling them with their book of accounts.

On the surface, this capability could be replicated across the board. But not all B2C have exactly the same requirements. And here is where the skill of the service provider comes in - and what made the winning solutions in this year's The Asset Treasury, Trade and Risk Management Awards 2015 that much more distinctive.

Call it 'smart virtual accounts' if you like in which it goes beyond simply identifying who paid. Last year, some banks moved a step up by adding to the functionality and even connecting these smart accounts with other services such as the provision of FX or integrated into a cash pooling structure.

Anyone who has been to India will not miss a Maruti Suzuki clogging the streets (and honking). One car is made every 12 seconds. With annual turnover of US$9 billion, Maruti Suzuki is India's largest car manufacturer. Last year, it sold 1.15 million vehicles. Imagine doing the account reconciliation for that!

Maruti Suzuki turned to BNP Paribas to solve the head-spinning problem. Through a customized version of the bank's eReceipts platform, Maruti Suzuki was not only able to see who the remitters were but also obtain specific information about car orders such as model type, car colour, financing plan etc - and integrated into its treasury system.

Staying with India and another B2C segment is insurance. In an added twist, Reliance Life Insurance Co (RLIC) employed virtual account and linked it to a central cash pool in a solution provided by Standard Chartered. It was a game changer for RLIC, which prior to setting up the virtual account had a manual reconciliation process for its 10-million policyholder payments.

The versatility of the solution - and with clever tweaks - opens its use widely. Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals applied it to managing its electronic receivables. Working with DBS, Deepak Fertilizers gave its dealers a tool to manage their collections giving them the option to assign an internal reference number for each of their customers. it was not only able to track receivables by dealers but also by the payers.

Sime Darby took the solution and applied it to its payments too. Working with Citi, it implemented a virtual card accounts (VCA) payment platform to manage multiple, high frequency payments.

Every single transaction coming out and in is given its own account number. Despite the complexity of tracking thousands of transactions, Sime Darby managed to minimize the cost of implementation by using a secured Citi website. Standard payment terms were reduced from weeks to days.

The power of the solution is not only being used to resolve existing pain, it is also being applied to start-ups. Ageas, the Belgian insurance group, looking to expand into wealth management, employed it for its new electronic trading platform.

Working with BNP Paribas, Ageas set up virtual accounts for each one of its investors. It enhanced it further by linking it to the bank's FX cross-currency offer covering 42 currency pairs. Since Ageas's client deposit currency could be different from the investment product currency, it was important for Ageas to partner with a bank that could provide transparent FX rates.

For more details and to attend The Asset Triple A Treasury, Trade and Risk Management Awards dinner, please click here.